Former Lehman employees will be among the 1,582 unsecured creditors set to receive a share of a £7bn payout from the administration of the bank’s London arm.

PricewaterhouseCoopers, administrator to Lehman Brothers International, said yesterday it would make a first dividend payment by the end of the month equal to about a quarter of the value of creditors’ claims.

Tony Lomas, lead administrator to Lehman Brothers International, described the dividend as an “important milestone”.

“Over the last six weeks alone, we have more than doubled the number of claims admitted and we look forward to returning a substantial amount of cash to creditors later this month,” said Mr Lomas.

More than 650 creditors with claims of less than £150,000 will receive 90pc of the money they were owed by the failed investment bank as a final settlement of their claims.

A source close to the administration proceedings said several of the payouts would go to former staff of the bank, who had bonuses withheld when Lehman Brothers imploded at the height of the financial crisis.

A further 689 “counterparties” of Lehmans, likely to include major fund managers, have yet to accept offers to pay them a combined total of £1.3bn, and PwC said it was still working to untangle the web of trading relationships that have been left in hiatus since the bank failed.